Thursday, February 04, 2021Sources Report Haaland Confirmation Not Expected Until March; Special Election To Follow, Plus: On The Econ Beat And A Little Gem From La Politica That's the word from our exclusive and reliable sources as we track the historic nomination of the first Native American who would become Secretary of Interior. A mid-March swearing-in would place the special election to fill Dem Haaland's ABQ congressional seat sometime in June. The Secretary of State will call the election for a date that comes 77 to 90 days after the seat is declared vacant. Dems are hoping for a Tuesday, June 1 election--similar to when primary elections are held--because they believe that would boost turnout. Dems are heavily favored to retain the deep blue seat, but special elections can present surprises when they wander into low turnout territory. As for where Haaland's confirmation stands right now, here's the scoop from one of our on-the-beat Alligators: The hearing by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is now expected at the end February or early March. After approval there the nomination will go to the full Senate for a vote. If approved, President Biden signs off and she is sworn in. At this point there doesn't seem to be a rush to speed up the process. Because of the razor thin Dem majority in the House, leadership is said to want to keep Haaland there to vote for Biden's first major initiatives. While Haaland is expected to win confirmation in the 50-50 Senate, the hearings will not be without moments. Biden's pause of oil and gas drilling permits on federal lands has made her appointment more controversial. Haaland will have to hit the briefing books to keep up with veteran senators. Energy Chair Murkowski and ranking Dem member Manchin both have deep ties to the energy industry. A break for Haaland is the presence of NM Sen. Heinrich on the committee. (Murkowski, an R, will soon be replaced as chair by a Dem, perhaps Manchin). DIVERSIFY OR WORSEIFY?  Sandia National Laboratories has upped the size of its workforce by nearly 20% in the last five years. And it hired more than 1,000 people during a year upended by the global pandemic.
The national lab in Albuquerque now has about 12,700 employees. That’s up about 2,000 people from the roughly 10,700 employees the labs had in 2016, according to an analysis created by the labs. . .Sandia’s New Mexico employees collected about $1.3 billion in payroll in the labs’ 2020 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Diversifying the economy is mostly idle chatter with little coming of it as the federal presence here becomes even larger as the private sector shrinks. In fact the powers that be are crying in their beer because ABQ was rejected by the Feds as a site for the US Space Command, a federal pork barrel if ever there was one. Attempts at diversification are worthwhile but not if they are accompanied by the demonization of federal government spending which is the cornerstone of the state's economy. Hypocrisy--like wanting the federal Space Command is fine--but leave the demons in the deep. WHO CAN DO THIS? To get some economic relief to hard-hit rural New Mexico experts want more quality broadband and availability, a subject of this reader email: Joe, I recently drove down a newly paved road that ended in the community of La Joya (20 miles north of Socorro). If government leaders can pave the road to La Joya, why can’t they figure out some way to get internet service to every nook and cranny in the state? With all the brainpower at our national labs surely someone has devised a system to facilitate internet connections. The experiment going on with Zoom etc. at government at all levels is embarrassing in a state that touts its advances in technology. We should be leading the country by example. Instead, the audio/video feeds from the city/county commission meetings, mayor news conferences, and Facebook communications is of a quality akin to a child with a coloring book. Doesn’t anybody know how to do it? CLEAN-UP In a first draft Wednesday we cited Ballotpedia in assigning a $174,000 annual salary to MLG. That is incorrect. Her current salary is $110,000. She vetoed a 2019 bill that would have raised her pay to $126,500. She once served in the US House where salaries are currently $174,000. And Edward Hollington, listed here as an independent candidate for the ABQ congressional seat, says he is involved in a lawsuit to make it easier for independents to run for the seat but is not a candidate. A LITTLE GEM  One of the Alligators digging around came with this find: Griego was sentenced in 2018 to 18 months in prison and fined $47,000 for his convictions on public corruption charges. The 6,255 square foot house is listed for $689,000. This is the home of New Mexico politics. Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2021 |
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